Major General Laurie, one of the three top officials in the DIS, has revealed that the chief of Defence Intelligence made it clear to the senior managers that the purpose of the dossier was to make a case for war. Although the deputy chief did not pass this message down through the intelligence analysis arm of the organisation, those of us involved with WMD intelligence analysis had no doubt that justification of a likely war was its overriding purpose. This judgment was based on the experience of contributing to a dossier on al-Qaida in Afghanistan that preceded British military action the previous year, and our interpretation of the then prime minister Tony Blair's exaggerated rhetoric on Iraq's WMD capabilities and the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

Given that so many ministers and senior officials at the time have, either explicitly or implicitly, through the several related inquiries, denied this was the purpose of the dossier, I cannot help but wonder why it took General Laurie so long to speak out.